Wick and Colter Revised Well Costs and Resources

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

23 May 2018

Baron Oil Plc

("Baron Oil" or "the Company")

Revised Cost Estimates for Wick and Colter wells

Update on Potential Resources for Colter

Baron Oil (AIM: BOIL) has received revised costs estimates for each of the Wick and Colter wells, in which Baron has a 15% and 5% licence interest, respectively, from the operator, Corallian Energy Limited ("Corallian").  These have increased as more bids for services are received, due to increases in the cost of fuel for the rig and tugs and the requirement for more comprehensive sea bed surveys.

The revised estimate for the Wick well cost, on a dry hole basis, has increased from £4.2 million to £5.2 million (£990,000 to Baron Oil, previously £840,000) and the revised estimate for Colter, also on a dry hole basis, has increased from £6.4 million to £7.2 million (£480,000 to Baron Oil, previously £425,000).

Corallian has also provided the results of its new probabilistic evaluation of the resource potential of the Colter prospect, based on mapping the reprocessed pre-stack depth migrated ("PSDM") volume of the combined 3D seismic surveys over the area.  These results indicate Mean Prospective Resources of 22 million barrels of recoverable oil and a further 1 million barrels of oil equivalent as gas, compared with the previous estimate of unrisked P50 Prospective Resources of 26.8 million barrels of oil recoverable, as announced on 6 March 2018. 

New preliminary mapping of a separate area around the 98/11-1 well, south of the Colter prospect, suggest the potential for Prospective Resources of up to 27 million barrels of recoverable oil.  Further definition of this separate area will be possible once the results of the Colter well (98/11a-E) are available.

Malcolm Butler, Chairman & CEO of Baron Oil Plc, said:

"The increase in well costs result from the increased oil price, affecting fuel costs, and because the operator has taken the view in the case of both wells that a more detailed survey of the sea bed is advisable, given the planned use of jack-up rigs.

"The completion of the PSDM has enabled the structural configuration of the Colter prospect to be better delineated, with a slight reduction in prospective volumes.

"However, this has also enabled the mapping of an additional, separate closure up-dip from the 98/11-1 well, which also had oil shows at the top of the Sherwood reservoir. 

"Both Colter and Wick are exciting prospects, lying close to known oil accumulations, and we look forward with eager anticipation to the results of drilling towards the end of this year."

Competent Person's Statement

Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules for Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement has been reviewed by Dr Malcolm Butler PhD, BSc, FGS, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Dr Butler has more than 45 years' experience as a petroleum geologist.  He has compiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement.  The technical disclosure in this announcement complies with the Society of Petroleum Engineers standard.

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